Cities and downtowns saw a lot of change from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to speakers invited to the Aspen Ideas Festival.

The Aspen Ideas Festival hosted a conference at Aspen Meadows Resort on June 25 with Isabella Casillas Guzman, administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington.

With downtown office spaces clearing out and cities losing large populations, urban leaders are looking at ways to reimagine cities.

Many cities throughout the nation saw their residents move away from the city to work remotely, making downtowns and their small businesses lose foot traffic and revenue, the speakers said. 

There were about 20,000 people who migrated out of Washington during the pandemic, in what Kevin Delany, the chief executive officer of Charter, called the “donut” effect, referring to the mass migration of city workers and residents moving to suburban and rural areas while switching to remote work in their companies.

This migration left Washington with less need for commercial space and a new need to fill those vacancies. 

Delaney had the speakers discuss how they plan to revive and reimagine Washington and other U.S. cities like it. 

“Cities are adapting to a new reality, a new normal, a new post-pandemic way of living, working and operating,” Bowser said. “Even with that change, there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for small businesses and larger businesses who are ready to think differently about entering American cities.”

Guzman and Bowser both said continuing to invest and support small businesses is one of the biggest solutions to keep vibrancy in downtown areas and a strong economy throughout the nation. 

“We’ve seen an incredible small business boom right now,” Guzman said. “There’s 33 million small businesses across the country.” 

Since the pandemic, the government has seen 11.7 million new business applications. Of those, nearly all are owned by women and people of color, creating net new jobs, she said. 

Guzman said taking lessons from the pandemic and the Payback Protection Program to keep production and businesses running, they need to simplify products and entice lenders for small businesses and underserved communities. 

Guzman said SBA is working to empower small-business owners by investing in them and incentivizing lenders to work with them

“We’re about to publish rules that will change the way we operate our small business investment companies and deploy $4 billion in federal capital and matching in the private sector,” Guzman said. “We’re gonna incentivize more venture capitals to focus on critical industry.”

She said the goal is to let businesses know the government is there for them.

In Washington D.C., Bowser said she is looking to turn the 90% commercial downtown into more housing and residential spaces. She said she and the city have a goal of 15,000 filled residential spaces in five years. 

“In five years may be able to crush that goal,” Bowser said.

Maintaining or creating great public school options and affordable workforce housing for young families are main ways she plans to drive people back to Washington.

“We can’t rest on our laurels, the same thing that allowed us to grow for the last 15 years is what will get our residents back,” Bowser said.

Adopting new technologies and business platforms have also kept small businesses thriving. 

Transportations, tourism, attractions and entertainment were also places Guzman and Bowser mentioned cities should keep investments for the survival of downtown areas. People want vibrant downtowns that will drive more businesses to want to come in. 

Transportation systems can dwindle with fewer people living and commuting to downtown, so incentivizing people to ride public transit can also be crucial for cities.  

“Our metro system had its highest ridership day two weekends ago since the pandemic, also showing signs of rebound,” Bowser said.

New technology helped many businesses adapt during the pandemic and will continue to help small businesses with revenue growth. Guzman said 85% of small businesses adopted new technology tools, making it easier to expand their businesses nationally, and internationally. 

Bowser thinks that artificial intelligence will also continue to benefit revenues in the future.

Relationships gained between entrepreneurs and lenders, and also government entities, during and after the pandemic prove to be continuously beneficial for businesses.

“We need to be able to continue to invest in America to ensure that we are globally competitive across the board and our innovative startups or small businesses are part of that story,” Gusman said